Alan Teasley is a big man.

He used to be a lot bigger.

I met him when I was editing a health and fitness section at The Herald-Sun. I asked him to speak to readers we’d signed up for a weight-loss challenge.

He brought an old pair of jeans. Or maybe it was a belt. I don’t remember which, but it showed how much weight he had lost.

I do remember how Teasley won the group over with his gentle, self-deprecating humor.

So when Michael Yarbrough, spokesman for the Durham Public Schools, suggested we ask him to become one of our new My View columnists, it was a no-brainer.

Now 60, Teasley is the former grants administrator for the school system. But he is anything but retired. He teaches in Duke’s master’s of arts in teaching program, serves on the board of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and just got back from Machu Picchu, Peru.

(He's also co-authored a book on "reading" films with young people. Read about it here.)

In our culture, it often seems “you’re not supposed to enjoy things, and if you do you’re supposed to enjoy them quietly,” Teasley says. “I’m enjoying the hell out of my retirement!”        

Still, when I asked the lifelong Durhamite to write a monthly column about his take on the Bull City, he hesitated.

That hesitation, he said moments later, was reason to do it.

“I’ve got plenty of opportunities to air my opinions -- just not publicly," he said. "I'm just scared enough to do it!"

I hope you enjoy reading Teasley's opinions.

Thanks for reading,
Mark

Pam Spaulding's debut column in The Durham News, "Fighting pet prejudice," has generated lots of e-mail.

"Thank you for allowing us to hear the voice of Pam Spaulding in the "My View" column," writes Kerry Johnson. "It rings with wit and wisdom, clarity of reason combined with compassion."

"I'm a straight man, married, living in Durham County. I think it's wonderful that Pam Spaulding adds her voice to The Durham News," writes Peter Orton. "The more diversity and wide-ranging opinion in the N&O, the more informed I'll be as a participating citizen of our community.

Jason Turner has a different take. "Pam Spaulding's column, 'Fighting Pet Prejudice' both minimizes the suffering of pit bull attack victims and relies on an offensive, disingenuous metaphor to argue a dangerous and irresponsible point," he writes. "To compare the discrimination and suffering faced by hundreds of thousands of victims of racial discrimination at the hands of bigots and racists to the responsible caution of a watchful mother when faced with a pit bull, is an insult to all those victims of discrimination and hate over the last several centuries."

Spaulding responds: "I respect your right to disagree with my premise. As a person of color who has experienced the same sort of discrimination (based on appearance alone), I in no way equated the suffering due to slavery or institutionalized racism. I merely stated that the narrow point in question -- appearance-based discrimination was similar."

But that's just a sample of the conversation. To read Turner's and Spaulding's complete exchange and even more reaction, go to Pam's House Blend, Spaulding's pretty incredible blog.

Thanks to everyone who sent us a letter. Please keep them coming to editor@nando.com. And have a great weekend,

Mark Schultz

Editor